Border Landscape and Daily Life: From Castro Marim to Montalvão in the Early Sixteenth century

Abstract

The frontiers between the two Peninsular kingdoms were set up in the Middle Ages in the aftermath of the Reconquista out of political will and consolidated by the settlement of population who were creating increasingly localised dynamics in the different territories. The landscape was crucial in creating bonds or imposing separations as a result of an adverse geography. The easiness of contact and the development of economic activities nurtured the establishment of links between families where peace and friendship took turns with moments of conflict and opposition. Afonso Mendes de Resende’s journey in the sixteenth century is a case in point to understand the cultural, social, economic, and political organization in the frontier region; it also testifies to the daily contact around a borderline that is always present in both memory and demarcation of the territory.